2019 U20 European Championship

[Levenspiel]

Lol @ Italian players being butthurt after the loss.The f.. were they thinking. They even overachieved by keeping the game this close.
Another monstrous game by Bitim. Efes finna regret waiving him I guess.

you meant "monster" I guess, but it's good for all parties that Efes released Bitim. The kid has had to wake up. maybe this was his trigger.

[the_black_planet]

None of mentioned isnt a big talent .Pazin is on level Tadic ,Pokusevski announce potential for good player,but not escpecially concrete ,Koprivica if I remember ,he s coming on college , so its to early for talking about big talent .We may conclude,Serbia will have big problems in period of 2022-25 ,when players of 96-00 should bear team .These players we havent ,with enough talent ,in enough number .Players born after 95 ,we havent them which something done in senior carreer ,and also generation which should to come ,with them we have bigger problem .I dont believe,that could be happy end .

Of course I agree that we can't rate Koprivica as a big talent, I don't think he has ever played in any really competitive tournament, just some limited play with the u18 NT I think a couple of years ago. He was in HS in USA and there is no footage on the internet about him except some few highlights that doesn't say much. Next year that he will play in NCAA we will be able to make real judgements about his talent.

About Pokucevski, it's really hard not to mention him as a special talent, he is close to 7 feet and he plays like a guard, I watched a bit of him in the U18 tournament in Greece this year and he was a joy to watch, he did whatever he liked on court, he played as a PG, he shoot from anywhere really, and the level of competiveness was not that low, they were players like Karabelas who had pretty big role in Peristeri this year, also most of the members of the Greek U18 team played there as well as Mantzoukas who is even younger but he is considered one of the best talents in Greece in recent years. But his development needs too much care. Personally the thing that worries me the most is that he reminds me a lot of Linos Chrysikopoulos if you remember him, he was a fantastic talent some years ago, before Antetokounmbo shows up I'd never witnessed such a big talent in Greece, he was quite shorter than Pokucevski of course, around 2,04 I think but he was similar in every other aspect (except less of a shooter), very long, very agile, fantastic handles, like an athletic Diamantidis of 2,04, and his body was very thin, then he suffered a big injury and now he is just a shadow of what he was projected to be back then, I really hope Pokucevski is cautious and keeps himself away from injuries!

[the_black_planet]

Also guys congratulations from me for all the teams that qualified to the final-8!!! It was great to see a talent like Bitim to be back on track, hope he keeps like that! Also what about Yam Madar??? He is almost 2 years younger than the competition, he is born in 21st of December 2000 and he is having a hell of a tournament, overshadowing even Avdija!!! Another super talent for Israel maybe?? He is not the super athletic type of player but he great feel for the game, especially as a scorer, he scores with too much ease!!!

[Efesdxb]

I really liked Gabriele Stefanini from Italy. He can be main player on any EL team in next 2 years.

[Levenspiel]

Why are your expectations so low? This team was always in the top4(2015-3, 2016-2, 2017-4)

Sadik Kabaca has good upside. Berke Atar will be always a candidate for turkish EL-teams and NT. This is his first bad tournament, turks are talking about Ömer Yurtseven as a superstar but nobody can show me 1 good ko-game in his career, he was always too soft for important games. It´s sad to see Atar so 1dimensional, he had potential to be a modern big but the former youth coordinator of Banvit, Menderes Gümüsdal just wanted to win, don´t develop players, he did the same at Efes too.

This is turkish way of thinking. Similar is our U18 team, we want to win with physical Furkan Haltali-Alperen Sengün(of course best prospect of Turkey), just win........

Until 2017 Mert Akay was a very solid PG-prospect but after summer 2017 he bulked up and lost his mind and since 2 years he shows not good signs. For turks stats are always very important, people say Mert Akay is a better scorer as Ömercan Ilyasoglu but the more important thing at this stage is how to get to the scoringpoint, Mert Akay with physical force & much effort but Ömercan very easy with talent, it´s not important he can´t finish yet, i also see more potential in Ömercan´s shot.

@c-myers, Eray Akyüz has no future at pro level(of course Eray Aydogan too). Burak Gözeneli(SG/PG, 00) from Türk Telekom could be the most talented G of this generation, maybe i´m overrating his talent.

Thank you, TfG, for the analysis. I can only follow these kids in summer tournaments, and that is with an uneducated eye. My pessimism comes from not from the performance of players, but from our notorious track record of wasting them at senior levels.

I used to say this, we do not even have a B-level scorers right now. players like Bekir Yarangume, Baris Ozcan, Erdal Bibo, Semsettin Bas, etc who could produce 15-20ppg in the league but would not have been called to NT, barring exceptional cases.

[Toruko]

I really liked Gabriele Stefanini from Italy. He can be main player on any EL team in next 2 years.

He will be a great scorer. He is the top scorer with a good fgp. Giorgios Kalaitzakis has a slightly better average but he takes all shots and is not efficient enough. Good talent though.

[Levenspiel]

Also guys congratulations from me for all the teams that qualified to the final-8!!! It was great to see a talent like Bitim to be back on track, hope he keeps like that! Also what about Yam Madar??? He is almost 2 years younger than the competition, he is born in 21st of December 2000 and he is having a hell of a tournament, overshadowing even Avdija!!! Another super talent for Israel maybe?? He is not the super athletic type of player but he great feel for the game, especially as a scorer, he scores with too much ease!!!

I do not remember Madar from the earlier age groups, that's why he was like out of nowhere (for me), but his confidence and the delivery is quite impressive. He also has the physical tools to translate it to senior level (unlike a few earlier gems; Tamir Blatt (I daresay) and Stamatis - what happened to him? come my mind)

[Toruko]

I do not remember Madar from the earlier age groups, that's why he was like out of nowhere (for me), but his confidence and the delivery is quite impressive. He also has the physical tools to translate it to senior level (unlike a few earlier gems; Tamir Blatt (I daresay) and Stamatis - what happened to him? come my mind)

We shouldnt not judge the performance of the player who play at home for their countrys. These kind of performances can be misleading but can also be a late bloomer of course. I am definitely more sceptical.

[the_black_planet]

We shouldnt not judge the performance of the player who play at home for their countrys. These kind of performances can be misleading but can also be a late bloomer of course. I am definitely more sceptical.

He is almost 2 years younger than competition though and this says something for sure. I think Levenspiel is right, for example Tamir Blatt, who is a player I really like and I'm sure he ends up as a great Eurocup/BCL player, which he almost is atm, wouldn't ever be able to curry such a performance. But still I don't know much about him, he is a ne face for most of us so we'll wait.

[the_black_planet]

I do not remember Madar from the earlier age groups, that's why he was like out of nowhere (for me), but his confidence and the delivery is quite impressive. He also has the physical tools to translate it to senior level (unlike a few earlier gems; Tamir Blatt (I daresay) and Stamatis - what happened to him? come my mind)

Stamatis is almost non-existent as of now, he always plays in bottom level A1 teams and with not a big role. He has some skills but he is very very limited as an athlete.

[Toruko]

He is almost 2 years younger than competition though and this says something for sure. I think Levenspiel is right, for example Tamir Blatt, who is a player I really like and I'm sure he ends up as a great Eurocup/BCL player, which he almost is atm, wouldn't ever be able to curry such a performance. But still I don't know much about him, he is a ne face for most of us so we'll wait.

Player developments are never linear but yes if hes that young we can hope for more in future. Wouldnt be bad for israeli basketball...

[christodoulou76]

Moraitis in beast mode. Triple double and 38 EFF (highest in tournament so far). 4 steals away from a quadruple double.

[Toruko]

I wonder why the serbs are so unmotivated. They are even worse than Turks.

[Toruko]

We are better than past but Atar is too soft and he wants the ball always passed into his hands. Dude needs to be more supple. Same goes to Kabaca, very good fundaments but couldnt finish twice under the rim. Except Akay there is no short with ball handling skills. We miss Hater because of his fouls.

Akay very good in defense. Love it actually. He must improve his scoring abilities. Midranger still too weak, hes working on shooting and penetration could also be better. But we will be able to rely on him later.

Bitim will be a Mike James for poor men I guess. I am not happy with the team but the important guys showed their value. Mustafa has really very good feeling in his fingers and despite being skinny he defends well because of his wingspan. Ball handling was always an issue. He should concentrate on creating shots for himself and should work on body and positioning.

[christodoulou76]

Nice work by Busquets and Martinez. Two very skilled prospects.